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Lenderman participates in Women’s Leadership Forum

  • Published
  • By Christi Spargur
  • 375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. --  Scott's own Col. Laura Lenderman, 375th Air Mobility Wing and Installation Commander, participated in a Women's Leadership Forum Oct. 24 at Southwestern Illinois College, along with other notable women in business, health care, education, sports and public service.

Organized by U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, the public forum was designed to share inspiring stories of personal and professional success, which also included a keynote address by Olympian Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

Lenderman spoke about the positive influences of her parents, particularly her father, who served in the Air Force at Scott Air Force Base in the 1980s. She said, "My family has been the single largest positive influence in my life. I grew up in an extended family of strong women. Yet, my father was a particular inspiration to me. He was a quiet man, never the center of attention. He was strong and consistent and selfless.
"He served his country well and also managed to keep my mother, sister, and I at the center of his life. My father taught me what right looks like, and he led by example. This gave me the ability to know what good decisions are, and it instilled in me the confidence to make them."

Her father's Air Force career and her life as a military child shaped Lenderman's future decision to join the military. After graduating from Duke University, she commissioned into the Air Force as a KC-135 pilot. Her military career includes positions as an instructor pilot, an executive officer, a squadron commander, a vice commander at a forward-deployed location, and a Branch Chief prior to becoming commander of the 375th AMW.

During her remarks, she defined success in terms of relationships.
"I am a firm believer that success ultimately starts and ends with how well we connect with others. I believe that the relationships we build, or those we choose not to build, are the foundation of everything in life, personally and professionally."

She explained how these relationships can play critical roles in people's lives. 
"I believe that everyone in this room has the same power to change the lives of those around us. Actually everyone has a super power. Some of us can offer technical knowledge. Some can offer wisdom. Some can offer insight. Some offer spiritual comfort. And every single one of us has the amazing yet simple ability to offer a helping hand. We all have the ability to lift each other up.

"...I offer that whatever we choose to do in life, each of us has a super power and the ability to make a positive difference whether it's in our families, our churches, our neighborhoods, our schools, our jobs, our communities. There's always the opportunity to use our super power, to lean in, to reach out and to lift each other up."
In addition to Lenderman's remarks, the event included two discussion panels with regional leaders focused on education and entrepreneurship and on health and wellness. Joyner-Kersee served as the event's closing keynote speaker where she talked about how she achieved her personal goals of becoming an Olympic medalist.
Joyner-Kersee, born and raised in East St. Louis, Illinois, said her mom was her inspiration for achieving her Olympic dreams.

"My mom instilled in me a sense of being very strong, of not giving up, of not taking myself or anyone else for granted and not to allow anyone to give me anything that I need to work for--if I hadn't earned it then I shouldn't receive it."

Speaking of her silver medal win in the 1984 Olympic Games, Joyner-Kersee talked about how she allowed an injury to negatively impact her performance and the life lessons she learned from those games.

"In 1984, I was picked to win the gold medal. But, psychologically and mentally, I wasn't, to myself, strong enough because I was dealing with an injury to my left hamstring. I let that injury get the best of me and the best of my mindset. It caused me to doubt my coaches, my physical therapist--my team.

"Even though my teammates were there to give me support, I was competing with a heavy bandage on my leg that meant, to me, something was wrong. I had this attitude throughout the two-day heptathlon competition. ...Throughout the first day, I kept thinking something is wrong. Where is the pain? ...I'm searching for a pain that's really not there, but in my mind it is. Because of that negative attitude and that negative reinforcement that I was doing to myself, I paid a heavy price by walking away with the silver medal. Some people might think that's great but for me when I know I have the ability to do better I know I shortchanged myself.

"I used the 1984 Olympics as a motivation. I said God if you bless me to make another Olympic team I will be the toughest athlete out there mentally because I know physically I have the gift to do it."

Joyner-Kersee went onto to compete in three more Olympic competitions winning a total of six medals in her Olympic career. She said it isn't the gold medals or the number of wins that define her but the lessons she learned by overcoming obstacles.
She said, "In life, we go through ups and downs. We are faced with different challenges. And sometimes we give up when we shouldn't. ...If we're not strong enough to push through the door to see what is on the other side, we will never know what we can achieve."